(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FIELD has something for everyone (and comedy
tonight?). But none of the contenders provide a more vivid contrast than
social conservative sachem Gary Bauer and "capitalist tool" Steve Forbes.

Both are pro-life and back a flat tax. But Bauer comes from a blue-collar
background, while Forbes inherited $200 million, give or take, from Malcolm
Sr.

To earn his allowance, young Steve had to serve drinks to guests on his
father's 151-foot yacht, among other strenuous duties. Bauer grew up in
rough-and-tumble Newport, Ky., the son of a steelworker.

Forbes' platform sounds like a compendium of Wall Street Journal
editorials -- in favor of most favored Nation trade status for China,
euphoric on immigration, in support of the Kosovo bombing. Bauer has
gleefully bucked Republican leaders and the business community on China
trade and the family tax cut.

"In economic matters in general, the Republican Party has a reputation to
live down," Bauer cautions. "It says that we are the party of the rich, the
party of the bottom line, the party of the almighty dollar."

Bauer isn't physically imposing, either. Nor can he pound the podium like
Pat Buchanan or Alan Keyes. But his soft-spoken style is equally compelling.

"Historically, a nation's greatness is measured by its economy, its
military, the splendor of its cities," Bauer told an audience in Manchester,
N.H., two weeks ago. However, "You can also measure a nation by its virtue
deficit."

Forbes

He ticks off signs of decline: the racist murder in Jasper, Texas,
schoolyard shootings and the New Jersey prom mom, who gave birth in a
restroom and threw her baby in the trash "as if it was a Styrofoam cup."

Bauer, "What was the poisoned air she had to breath to think that was OK?"
He's the only candidate who makes the moral agenda his primary, though not
exclusive, focus. Buchanan is equally committed to traditional values, but
trade and sovereignty are his passions, not abortion and the integrity of
marriage.

Bauer left the Reagan White House, where he was domestic policy chief, for
the Family Research Council. He took the council from a three-person
operation to the most respected pro-family group in Washington -- with a $14
million budget and 120 staffers.

Two years ago, he formed the Campaign for Working Families to support
candidates whose outspokenness on abortion and homosexuality makes them
anathema to the Republican establishment.

In 1998, the political action committee raised $7 million, making it
America's No. 2 PAC. In Illinois last year, its $50,000 independent
expenditure on partial-birth abortion helped Peter Fitzgerald defeat Carol
Moseley Braun, the only democratic incumbent to lose a Senate race.

Gary knows he needs $19 million to make a serious run. In seven weeks, he
raised $1.4 million from 16,000 donors. Unlike George W. Bush and Elizabeth
Dole, his average contribution is small (around $45), which means he can
keep coming back to his donor base.

Organization is the key to Iowa and New Hampshire. Gary has the inside
track on recruiting the religious conservatives who increasingly dominate
GOP primaries.

At this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, Bauer won a
presidential straw poll of 1,000 delegates, beating Bush by 5 percentage
points and Forbes by almost 18 points.

Activists trust him. He's fought their battles and knows how to move them.
"Someone has called the family 'God's masterpiece,'" Bauer observes. Yet,
"We penalize it with taxes, marginalize it with judicial decrees, undermine
it with educational policies, redefine it with trendy new ideas -- and still
somehow it survives."

Bauer is telling friends he's "not delusional." He knows he isn't the
odds-on favorite for the nomination. But he's the only one in the race with
the both the resources and the commitment to articulate a moral vision.

Forbes is a nice guy who has the personal fortune to buy into the game, but
not much more. Bauer has the passion, the activist network and the savvy to
play his hand well.

He believes the early primaries will narrow the field to three -- an
establishment candidate (probably Bush), a bridge candidate (possibly Dole)
and a conservative champion. If that happened to be a steelworker's son from
the Blue Grass state, the GOP might lose its Dun and Bradstreet rating, and
get along well without
it.

4/05/99: Bubba and Maddy lit Kosovo's fire3/29/99: At Passover, Egypt is a state of mind3/29/99: Could the GOP stand Pat in 2000?3/17/99: Hollywood's party line in 19993/15/99: All bow, the court is in session3/11/99: In praise of negative campaigning3/09/99: Day-care study defies common sense3/04/99: Starship Clinton orbits Kosovo3/01/99: Public will blot out Broaddrick's accusation2/25/99: Slick Hillie for Senate would be fun2/23/99: Fascism in the name of fighting fascism2/16/99: Was anything learned from the impeachment trial?2/12/99: Educating the democratic voters of tomorrow2/10/99: First Amendment doesn't apply to pro-life cause2/08/99: Dems' triumph over Constitution complete2/03/99: Blood of victims will drown out breakfast prayers2/01/99: Without a home the heart knows no rest1/29/99: Poster boy for term-limits1/27/99: The 'so-what' defense in the City of Saints1/25/99: Whose choice?1/21/99: Censure worse than nothing1/18/99: Words can`t dignify a dishonored presidency1/13/99: Conservatism "with a heart" is conservatism without a head1/11/99: If he isn't removed, watch out for Bill!1/07/99: We can learn a lot from Teddy1/05/99: Monica and a call to modesty12/30/98: Will Bubba get away with it again?12/28/98: Zionist dream alive and well on West Bank12/18/98: Impeach or abandon the Rule of Law12/16/98: Clinton moves Middle East closer to war12/14/98: Why we lost interest in the homeless12/10/98: No place at table for conservatives12/07/98: The day America lost its innocence12/02/98: Pilgrims Pilloried in streets of Plymouth11/30/98: Caribbean dogpatch not a good candidate for statehood11/25/98: Will Vermont force gay marriage on the nation? 11/23/98: The ACLU wants your kids to get a love life11/18/98: Why liberals hate tobacco and guns more than drugs and crime 11/16/98: "Pleasantville" a countercultural morality play 11/13/98: Ads are a tough sell for abortion11/09/98: Why gutless Republicans lost11/06/98: Historians against the Constitution11/02/98: Loving response to a hateful conference10/28/98: Professor Death will fit right in at Princeton10/26/98: Plymouth caves to Pilgrim foes10/21/98: On '98 election, keep a critical eye on polls 10/19/98: Clinton could yet be 'prosperity president'10/16/98: Working families -- Dems love 'em (stuffed)10/09/98: Majoring in 'weirdness'10/07/98: Friends of Billy Clinton9/29/98: Letter from ex-soldier highlights defense peril9/28/98: Answering arguments against impeachment9/18/98: The nation that doesn't exist9/14/98: Bubba isn't the only one who should be ashamed9/11/98: Resolution of Clinton crisis will define national character9/09/98: We're still just wild about Harry9/07/98: Mexican banditry didn't end with Pancho Villa9/02/98: Clinton forgives us!8/31/98: Ashcroft's plain talking touches responsive chord8/26/98: Public opinion be damned8/24/98: Why liberals condone Clinton's lies8/20/98: Time to move on -- to impeachment8/12/98: With Bubba in the sexual privacy zone8/10/98: The truth won't set Clinton free8/06/98: Truth about Hiroshima is incontrovertible8/04/98: Clinton not the first hollow president7/30/98: "Small Soldiers" -- a fractured Vietnam allegory7/27/98: Crime wave hits hometown7/22/98: Love in an Internet fishbowl7/20/98: Ads bring ex-gay movement out of closet7/15/98: Brian and Amy -- the children of Roe7/13/98: Why are we scared of obnoxious 'activists?'
7/6/98: Fonda still resists reality7/1/98: New York blesses domestic partnerships6/29/98: Teddy and Calvin stood for virtue6/24/98: Will Clinton betray Taiwan?6/22/98: Big tobacco? What about big casinos?6/15/98: Religion -- God for what ails you
6/10/98: Planning Clinton's China itinery6/8/98: Republicans' Custer offers advice
6/4/98: Oh, Dems Christian-bashers!
6/2/98: Goldwater did conservatives more harm than good 5/27/98: A Clinton-hater confesses 5/15/98: Giuliani's assault on marriage5/13/98: Hillary knows what's best for everyone
5/11/98: To honor her would not be honorable5/6/98: Conservative chasm: pragmatism vs. worship of marketplace5/4/98: Anglo-saxon me
4/29/98:
Needle exchange programs are assisted-suicide
4/27/98: Chretien's mission of mercy to Fidel 4/22/98: School-choice is a religious freedom issue4/20/98: Corporate execs deliver body parts to Beijing4/14/98: National sales tax --- looks better all the time
4/13/98: The U.N. sinister? Hey, where did that idea come from?
4/8/98: Unions fight workers rights in 226 campaign3/30/98: Africa's leaders should apologize3/25/98: GOP shouldn't look to media for advice3/22/98: You should care about Clinton's 'private life'3/19/98: Color-coded reading, product of obsessive minds3/16/98: Amendment will end exile of G-d from our public lives3/9/98: Havana will break your heart3/2/98: Vouchers Terrify Teachers' Union2/25/98: Presidential politics starts at a resort hotel2/23/98: Hillary's support comes at a price2/18/98: How many times must we say "no" to gay rights?2/16/98: Enoch Powell spoke the truth on immigration2/11/98: Bubba behaving badly2/9/98: A conservative dissent on the flag-burning amendment2/5/98: We get the leaders we deserve2/2/98: Send a signal that could penetrate boardroom doors1/27/98: State of the president: hollow rhetoric1/25/98: For Monica's playmate, we have no one to blame but ourselves1/22/98: At Yale, bet on yarmulke over gown1/19/98: Commission tackles America's fastest-growing addiction, gambling
1/15/98: Capital punishment and the hard case: no exceptions for Karla Faye Tucker
1/12/98: Partial-birth abortion and the GOP's future: the "big tent" meets truth in advertising
1/8/98: IOLTA: the Left's latest scam to crawl into our pockets
1/5/98: Connect the dots to create a terrorist state1/1/98: The Unacceptables of 1997: Long may they rave12/28/97: Hypocrisy is a liberal survival mechanism12/23/97: Chanukah is no laughing matter12/22/97: No merry Christmas for persecuted Christians around the world12/18/97: Bosnia, Haiti, and how not to conduct a foreign policy